1. Field of the Invention
Vapor Powered Engine Assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In all areas of the world, with the exception of the Arctic and Anarctic regions, vast and inexhaustible quantities of heat exist in the ground, the ambient atmosphere, and in bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, oceans and the like, as well as from sunlight, that is free for the taking. The advantage of using such free sources of heat for power generating purposes in contrast to expensive and exhaustible hydrocarbon fuels such as oil and coal will readily be apparent.
However, prior to the filing of my previously identified application and the Vapor Actuated Power Generating Device disclosed in my previous U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,136 that issued July 5, 1977, the applicant has no knowledge of a practical apparatus that could conveniently and inexpensively transform this vast source of low temperature heat into energy for power producing purposes such as generating electricity.
A major object of the present invention is to provide an engine assembly capable of operating on solar energy or low temperature heat from natural occurring sources, but also when desired capable of operating from the burning of fuel such as coal, oil, wood, saw dust and the like.
Another object of the invention is to furnish an engine assembly particularly adapted for driving a pump for pumping well water, with the pumped well water serving not only for irrigation purposes but also for initially cooling the low pressure vapor discharged from the engine assembly, which vapor is further cooled and pressurized to return to the liquid state whereupon it is heated to transform to high pressure vapor to again power the engine assembly.
A still further object of the invention is to furnish an engine assembly in which the moving components are hermetically sealed within an enveloping shell having an interior completely free of dust and dirt, with the moving components when operating being continuously subjected to a spray of lubricating oil to minimize friction and wear, and the engine assembly as a result requiring a minimum of maintenance attention.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an engine assembly in which the rate of rotation of the driving shaft is controlled by varying the back pressure on the discharging low pressure vapor.
A further object of the invention is to furnish an engine assembly that not only generates rotational power that may be used for any desired purpose, but sufficient power to drive the necessary pumps to pressurize and circulate the low pressure vapor to return the latter to the liquid state to again be recycled through the engine assembly.
Yet another object of the invention is to furnish an engine assembly that operates on low temperature naturally occurring heat that is free for the taking, and by so doing minimizing our dependence on oil and coal which year-by-year increase in price and decrease in availability.
An additional object of the invention is to furnish an engine assembly which when operating on natural occurring low temperature heat sources emits no pollutants into the atmosphere, and one that is capable of operating on waste heat from industrial installations and power plants, which waste heat in many instances poses a serious operational problem as it raises the temperature of the ambient atmosphere and natural occurring bodies of water to an undesirably high temperature.